In the Name of Talent
by Dance Elle Dance
Summary: She never expected to be so angry that he was completely ignored by the Treblemakers - they were the enemy, after all - but still, she found herself standing in front of Benji Applebaum, angry and incensed and craving justice for reasons unbeknownst to her. BenjiAubrey, oneshot


_**Disclaimer: **__I don't own Pitch Perfect._

_**Summary: She never expected to be so angry that he was completely ignored by the Treblemakers - they were the enemy, after all - but still, she found herself standing in front of Benji Applebaum, angry and incensed and craving justice for reasons unbeknownst to her. BenjiAubrey, oneshot**_

_Okay, so I love these two together, for whatever reason, and I just wanted to write more for them. And for Pitch Perfect in general, because I just love this world. I hope that y'all enjoy this little fanfic of mine. It's not very long, but I just wanted to add another little fic to the PP fandom! Thanks so much for reading! _

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**In the Name of Talent**

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Aubrey Posen never really thought of herself as a _poised_ individual.

And, really, there were thousands upon thousands of reasons to prove this fact. She didn't really want to get into those specific reasons, simply because a lot of them involved projectile vomiting and clothes that were on the Sale rack but _were not on sale_ (and, really, the people who did that were just as bad as Satan himself, as far as she was concerned).

Nonetheless, she at least knew where she stood with certain issues. She had a very clear viewpoint about certain topics and what was right and what was wrong and what was completely unacceptable. Yeah, she might be a bit uptight, but she knew that and she really, really didn't care at the moment.

Her heels clacked on the sidewalk as she searched for _him_. Really, she was almost incensed with the need to find him and at least let him know that she thought the Treblemakers were horrible and deserved to have a Bella-sized beatdown at her hands personally - okay, maybe she could hire someone to help, because she was certain she couldn't throw a punch without seriously injuring herself instead of the person she was aiming for.

Aubrey twisted her neck in either direction, her eyes blazing, nostrils flaring. She had no idea why she was so completely beside herself at this moment. She hardly knew the guy - and, even if she did, he was hardly in what she would call her "social circle." And, for some reason, the thought pained her. Not because he wasn't in her crowd of friends but - if she had known of him prior, she might have sent a cruel word his way, about how _weird_ he was or how _magic is for losers_.

Just knowing that was something that didn't sit well with her.

But this wasn't about that; at least, it wasn't right now. She could address all of the deep-seated issues about this later, because in this moment it was simply about finding him and letting him _know_ -

"B-Benji!" she shouted upon finally spotting that mop of light hair bobbing along in the crowd. He was alone, looking to be off in his own world, and she had to call out his name again before he really noticed what was going on. When he did, however, he looked at her with a sense of awe, as if he couldn't believe that she was talking to him - and that kind of made her heart hurt. It was almost as if he was stunned that a girl was talking to him. The sadness of that was almost incomparable to anything else.

Benji had proceeded to look behind him, as if she were talking to someone else named Benji. And that hurt, too. She didn't want to admit it, but it totally did. It felt like a crushing, all-encompassing hurt that nested itself deep in her chest, radiating to her throat, choking off her words as she tried to voice that _yes I am talking to you please don't look like that because I can't - _

"Um," he started. When had she gotten so close to him? She must have moved forward without knowing it, because now she was standing in front of him, swallowing hard, fists clenched at her sides as if she wanted to assault him and not the people who had hurt him.

_"Yeah, it hit him pretty hard...I honestly can't believe they didn't pick him..."_

Jesse's words to Beca earlier that day paraded in her mind, making her want to lash out at the Treblemakers more than she usually would. Which, really, made no sense at all. They had missed out on his talent. They had completely ignored it, so that made them the weaker group, right? So she should be happy that they crippled themselves, right?

_Wrong._

It wasn't about that. It wasn't about any of that, not at all. It was about the fact that this boy - this boy with the angelic voice and the sweet eyes and the kind disposition - had been hurt, had been bullied by the people he practically idolized.

_Almost like how you were last year with the Bellas..._

Aubrey shook her head, choosing to open and close her mouth like a gaping goldfish, unused to being so without words that she couldn't even stumble over them, like she was clearly about to do.

But Benji was looking at her, large doe-like eyes curious and maybe a little bit frightened.

"The Treblemakers are dumb!" she ended up crying out, her fingernails biting into the flesh of her palms.

Benji blinked, completely confused, but ended up saying, "I...they are talented...I really - "

Oh, that just made Aubrey's heart hurt. He was still defending them after they totally, completely rejected him.

"They are stupid," she interrupted him, eyes blazing, "for not picking you."

At this point, Benji's face turned about five shades of pink, and he began to stutter.

Aubrey surged on, though. "Up there...you were fabulous." The word vomit was almost as bad as the regular kind. "I can't...I won't believe that they didn't pick you because you aren't talented. It's because they are petty, and hateful, and I want to _punch them_ because - "

Suddenly, tentatively, she felt fingers wrap around her wrist, and somehow - inexplicably - she felt some tension release at the touch.

"It's okay," Benji reassured, removing his fingers from her wrist as soon as he could. It was almost as if he was scared that touching her would incur some awful wrath. And, really, when she was just yelling at him for being amazing...maybe that wasn't so farfetched. "I'm fine."

Aubrey pursed her lips. He most certainly was _not _fine. His eyes, so expressive and unable to hide anything at all, were wide in his face, reflecting the pain that had been inflicted upon him.

"But," he started, his voice small, "I...well, thank you. For saying that." He removed his gaze from his shoes to focus on her eyes. "You...really don't know what that means...coming from you."

Her heart skipped. She inhaled sharply. Her fingers twitched.

"I just tell the truth," she replied, breathless, shaky. "And I just wanted you to know that...that you're awesome. And that you shouldn't let them get to you."

Benji's responding smile caused a warmth to form deep in her chest. He nodded a bit, and said, "Message received."

It was only then, as he stared at her with those grateful eyes and that quirky smile of his, that Aubrey realized she would do just about anything to see him happy.

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_**End.**_


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